A somewhat short period after Ezrin has talked to Alexis about their respective sponsors, and the giant is dead. Alexis and Ezrin are alone one some task. Alexis asks Ezrin.
“You’ve made some comments about what my sponsor knows, and how he knows it. Tell me, what does my sponsor know, and how do you think he knows it?”
“It was eight or nine years ago, probably a year or so before I received The Invitation. I was apprenticed to a locksmith. My parents were both Known. I’d done some good work of my own though, stepped up from the kiddie stuff. Some second-story work and some tunnel work. I was Known, and young.”
“So a Friend came to talk to me, he and some other Friends had been talking with Someone about some ruins on Mount Sutheron, out past The Horsetrader’s estates…
“It was mid-autumn, we set out early during the Festival of Oo-rin, after making a small offering and promising a larger one if our ‘harvest’ was successful… festivals are an auspicious time for A Job after all.
We were a small team, as usual: myself, the Doors and Traps man… Bragnasar, a great climber, classic Second Story man, and good in tunnels too. We’d worked together before several times. Then, uh… Sibrah, some muscle mostly, but a good climber and good swimmer, did a lot of work on the docks… Dunbar, a thug and aspiring pit fighter I hadn’t worked with much before, but I knew he had a level head… and Stackin, a sage I’d never met before that claimed to be working for a Lord Allbah, from what I remember, Sibrah knew him from a previous job? I’m not so sure Stackin was working for Lord Allbah, frankly a lot of Jobs at the time were supposedly for Lord Allbah… it was kind of an inside joke back then… and I think some jobs really were for or at least connected to Lord Allbah…”
Anyhow, Stackin and SIbrah led us to an old pile of ruins in the hills around the base of The Mountain, and a somewhat hidden, somewhat collapsed entrance to a… cave? dungeon? ruins?
“The entrance itself was collapsed, but once we were about ten feet in the cave turned into a well crafted hallway. We proceeded cautiously, tapping here and there, lanterns high.
“About 100 feet in or so we encounter the first of several ancient well built traps. Sibrah claimed we were in ancient dwarven ruins around that point. It was a simple crossbow trap but with an ingenious floor-based trigger system and some sort of self-reloading crossbow built into the wall. I wish I could have studied it more, but I disabled it with a couple small wedges in the floor tile to keep it from moving down when stepped on.
“We continued deeper into the mountainside, and eventually came to some stairs. Another trap! These well built stone stairs were designed to… roll over onto a smooth surface. I was able to locate a hidden off-switch though and we descended the stairs.
“About halfway down though, a landing and another trap! This one was a huge Dwarven face, with a vent in the mouth that seemed like it spewed and lit oil. Again, the same floor based trigger mechanism, but the whole landing was difficult to secure. It took a bit, and was a little tricky since by this point the stairs were along the side of a large natural cavern, I was able to climb over the side with some rope held by… Bragnasar and… Sibrah, and wedge the trigger-stones into place and we were able to move safely past.
“At the bottom of the stars was a room worked out of the natural cavern and three heavy wooden doors. And three strange corpses.”
“The corpses were dead dwarves. Stackin was very excited, and very impressed with how well their corpses were preserved, for as old as they must have been. They were dry, they still had a leather skin over the bones… We searched them, and Stackin lay claim to all the items with writing on them, there were runes on most of the weapons, at least the axes and hammers, and some the daggers too.”
Ezrin reaches over to his pack and pulls out his dagger,
“Not this one though.”
He hands the dagger to Alexis. It looks like it could be dwarven made, no runes, not even small smithmarks though.
“Anyhow, we packed up all we could, their plate mail and everything. Set most of it into a ready to pile, and carried the most valuable items with us. Stackin took a few scrolls with him, we all took gold, silver, and a few smaller weapons. There were a few rings too.”
“One of the doors was clearly damaged and Stackin led us through it.
“50 feet or so down that hall, Dunbar triggered but dodged a truly amazing scythe-like blade trap. It would have split him open had he not jumped back so fast! I disabled it as well, the pressure plates were very well hidden though, it was a tough one…”
“We passed some old barrack type spaces, everything made of stone and just a little off in size. There were some runes that Stackin copied down in a few spots. An empty armory type space, kitchens and a dining hall… all stone and a little off..
“It was just past the dining hall that Stackin noticed something odd along the wall, he and I investigated it together, he used a spell at this point, ‘Lanua Invenire Dìomthair” I think now…
“It was a well-hidden door, we found the trigger stone, and followed the low passage it opened into.
“It was only a few yards away that the skeletal dwarves attacked. It was a tough fight, their plate armor, and most of us have short swords or daggers. Dunbar had a small flail though, and he liked to disarm his opponents, and we all knew how to help a Friend out in a fight, so once we figured out what we needed to do… Stackin cast at least one spell, but I was fighting with an improvised club at the time I didn’t really understand what he had done. Now, I think I have a pretty good idea.
Sibrah got hurt a bit, I got a little roughed up, but not bad, and Bragnasar was pretty hurt, but able to press on.
“Again, we quickly searched the bodies, took a few small weapons immediately and set aside the armor and larger weapons for quick retrieval and followed what we could make out of the trail of dwarves. Stackin seemed to be able to track them?
“It wasn’t long after that that we felt IT. The rage was palpable, alien, righteous, and terrifying. Stackin urged us on an we tried, entered in a small room with a door, the door had a few runes on it, some more scratched in than laid in you know? They looked like some sort of warning to me, and I said so.
“Stackin hurriedly copied them down… The room was eerily silent, and filled with rage, whatever was behind that door was going to destroy us. Feed on our very souls. Take revenge on us for how it was wronged. Dunbar and I broke at the same time, we ran. Stackin… Bragnasar… Sibrah… followed shortly. We all knew we needed to get out of there as fast as we could…
“We did stop to get our loot, and it did slow us down. Stackin seemed satisfied with the job and paid us well. He said he would inform the Hoodites about the walking skeletons and the Evil. The rest of us split up everything that didn’t have runes on it, which wasn’t much.”
Ezrin accepts his dagger back from Alexis.
“But it was plenty… Dunbar wasn’t ever really the same, lost the stomach for pit fighting at least… I have no idea what happened to the rest of the guys. I hadn’t seen them when I got the Invitation. I never saw Stackin again…”
Sent from Sutheron, over a year ago.
A seal, hard to make out exactly and stylized U and J perhaps? A Crocodile and and Vulture?
Addressed:
“To: Okken, Shopkeeper, Amara
West Southwest of Yamar”
Inside:
From: Unto Jarvi, Admiral of Rannon River, Bordertown
Okken:
I am sorry to write to you under the specter of death, and I regret to inform you that your ever-loving son Telosh Winterborne has perished.
Hopefully Dirk made it home to Yamar and you know his and Telosh’s daring adventures on the way to and in Aegir.
Since Dirk chose to return to Amara, Telosh had adventures in Aegier, faced ghosts in the hills near the small Aegierian village of Paavo and fought valiantly and with great cunning in the bare-knuckle barge fights in Bordertown. You should be proud of your son.
It was in one of these such fights that Telosh died. Many times he had survived worse beatings and dives into the Rannon, but not this time.
Telosh was was a good fighter and a brave man. I’m sorry for your loss.
deepest regards,
Unto Jarvi
Very shortly after Ezrin joins the group, while they are traveling Alexis asks him.
“What is the news in Sutheron since we left? Have the dwarves truly been fully cleared from Mt Sutheron? What is the state of the occupation? Still violence in some of the districts?”
One night before the slaying of the Gaint Ethelred finds a moment to talk with Ezrin.
“Ezrin, you come to us with some knowledge from the Collegium. What do they say of Alexis? I am curious how I will be received when we return. And knowing more about how Alexis is viewed might be helpful.”
One of the many days working on the ballista Ethelred ask Alexis a question that has been on reds mind for a while now.
“Much have we spoken on what to do, or not to do, with regards to Telosh. When I do come before the Collegium, what will I say about my journey to magic. Not only is it directly tied to the story of Telosh, but it also has elements of a chaos birth, of feeling my way. And while I a more… Disciplined that Telosh I am still not… Legitimate. Ezrin has .ade it very clear that I am not… Right.. proper.. and that it will take some serious treasure to make things right.. or at least make them passable.”
Shortly after Ezrin joins the group, Alexis finds himself alone with Gustav and Ethelred.
“Just so we’re clear, we’re not saying anything about Telosh and his penchant for magic meddling. If you have any questions, say nothing and send them to me.”
Alexis makes it clear with body language that he’s talking about not talking to any member of the Collegium about Telosh’s use of magic.
Alexis looks between the two of them and then settles his eyes on Ethelred. “Is that clear?”
After asking Telosh about his theories on the forced bird connection, Gustav privately goes to Alexis for his opinion:
“What happened there. Why do you think Telosh forced a connection between me and the bird against my will? I didn’t want that troublemaking bird to follow me or rely on me for anything. Telosh already knew my feelings of the crow, Do you think he was possessed by a demon who cast spells against his will? Or did he let in the demon?”
Gustav seems to be seething thinking about it again.
“It seems like it might not have been his choice, but he wanted a connection between me and the bird before the possession. Maybe the demon stole his desires and spilled them all over the veiled world.”
Gustav looks at the crow which is cawing nearby and kicks a rock near it.
After Telosh’s Possession, Gustav furrows his brow and asks:
“What happened there. Why did you force a connection between me and the bird against my will? I didn’t want that troublemaking bird to follow me or rely on me for anything. You already knew my feelings of the crow, were you possessed by a demon who cast spells against your will?”
Gustav tries to calm down and his shoulders crumple a bit.
“It seems like it might not have been your choice, but you wanted a connection between me and the bird before the possession. Maybe the demon stole your desires and spilled them all over the veiled world.”
Gustav looks at the crow which is cawing nearby and hisses at it.
In camp, well after leaving the area of the chaos magic storms, and after his conversations with Gus and Alexis, Telosh approaches Ethelred while the others are busy elsewhere.
“The ballista is coming along well eh, Red? Looks wicked!”
He looks truly excited about the project, his Westlander accent is showing..
“Do ya think it’ll take the giant out in one shot or should we prepper some follow up measures? More traps maybe?”
“I’ve been tryna figure out how to.. embiggen the deadfall traps that the Gus uses to catch small animals like squirrels, maybe have it set up for a tree or two to fall on the giant?”
“Digging a deep pit might be tough, but a shallow pit with spikes in it could trip the giant up pretty bad… Based on it’s behavior before, I bet it will want to charge at the ballista if it survives the hit…”
“Oh, I should let you talk… I’m getting excited about taking on the giant!”